Readily releasable loop retainer



Jan.-

J. R. AYERS Filed March 31, 1949 READILY RELEASABLE LOOP RETAINER INVENTOR JOHN R, AYERS Patented Jan. 8, 1952 v 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE READILY RELEASABLE LOOP RETAINER John R. Ayers, Nahant, Mass.

Application March 31, 1949, Serial No. 84,554

1 Claim.

This invention relates to loop retainers and while not limited to such use, the retainer of this invention is particularly suitable for florists use in holding the stems of bunches of flowers against undue spreading. For this purpose it is important that the retainer be inexpensive, that it be capable of being engaged about the flower stems easily, and that the ends of the retainer be readily engaged and the loop formed thereby be adjustable in size while holding sufliciently securely when once placed around the stems and closed to the desired degree.

To these ends the retainer of this invention comprises a normally open loop of spring wire or other suitable material, one end portion of the retainer being coiled to form a helix with spaced convolutions of a size to receive'the other end therein, the other end having its extremity laterally deflected so as to tend to engage between adjacent convolutions of the helix and to hold the retainer closed with any desired amount of overlap of its ends. By flattening the curvature of the helix the laterally deflected end may be removed from between the convolutions, freeing it for movement to increase or decrease the size of the loop.

For a complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a retainer embodying the invention ready for application.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing the end portions of the retainer closed together.

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view to a larger scale on line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a View showing the retainer grasped for freeing the end portions from each other.

Referring to the drawings, at l is shown a normally open loop of resilient material such as spring wire. One end portion of this loop for a considerable distance is formed into an elongated coil 2 with spaced convolutions which is of sumcient internal diameter to permit the free entry and passage of the other end portion 3 of the loop thereinto. The coil 2 is curved laterally in the general plane of the loop as shown, and the opposite end portion 3 in its free condition is curved similarly and its extremity is outwardly defiected in the general plane of the loop as at 4 at an angle of somewhat less than 90, say, about 45.

In use, the retainer is slipped about the bunch of flower stems or other article about which it is to be placed, and the end portion 3 is inserted into the coil 2 and is pushed therein as far as desired to close the loop to the desired extent upon the article. The out-turned extremity 4 of the end portion 3 acts as a resilient latch tending to hold the end portions of the loop in any desired position of overlap, the angular relationship of the end portions and the resilience of the loop causing the outwardly deflected extremity to be forced outwardly into the space between adjacent turns of the coil 2 due to the resiliency of the loop which tends to assume the open condition shown in Figure 1. The loop is thereby releasably latched closed in any adjusted position. The retainer can be removed by pulling the end portions 2 and 3 away from each other with sufficient force, the inclined inner face of the extremity 4 acting on the adjacent convolution similarly to the beveled face of a latch on its latch plate, but this force may be materially reduced by holding the end portions of the coil 2 and flattening it somewhat as shown in Figure 4 so that it takes a curvature somewhat similar to the normal curvature of the portion 3. This tends to remove the defiected end portion 4 from between the adjacent turns of the coil, freeing it so that the end portion 3 can be removed readily from the coil 2.

If desired, the retainer may be treated with paint, such as green paint, to render it less conspicuous when in use and this green paint has the further effect of increasing the frictional hold of the end portions of the retainer when they have been brought together.

From the foregoing description of an embodiment of this invention, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made without departing from its spirit or scope.

I claim:

A device of the class described, comprising a normally open resilient loop, the end portions thereof being normally disposed in angular relation with respect to each other, one end portion of said loop being formed into an elongated coil with spaced convolutions and lying in the general plane of the loop, said coil being of an inside diameter to freely pass the other end portion of the loop when the end portions are brought into alinement with each other, said other end portion having its extremity deflected outwardly in the general plane of the loop by less than 90 and adapted to extend into the space between adjacent convolutions of the coil, the angular relationship of the end portions and the resiliency of the loop causing said outwardly deflected ex tremity to be forced outwardly between adjacent convolutions of the coil and thereby releas- 10 ably latch the loop closed in any adjusted position.

JOHN R. AYERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Cronenberger Apr. 30, 1901 Boor Apr. 24, 1917 Boor Apr. 24, 1917 Harris Aug. 14, 1917 Bishow Mar. 16, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain of 1908 Great Britain of 1911 Great Britain of 1901 Great Britain Dec. 11, 1924 Italy Oct. 19, 1936 

